Person:Roger Hughes (1)

In 1934 Roger Hughes' father, Joseph Hughes, went to work for the now gone Thriftmart grocery chain in New Jersey. He stayed with Thriftmart for 18 years, leaving in 1952 to seek his fortune in Southern California, where starting with one store he laid the foundation for what became one of the region's largest family-owned supermarket chains - Hughes Markets.

Roger Hughes went to work for his father while in high school. By the time he was in his third year at Southern California's Loyola High School he was managing the liquor department in the Studio City Hughes Market's store. Roger Hughes initially didn't want to join the family grocery business, he wanted to be a teacher. Hughes enrolled at Glendale College for a while and then joined the U.S. Navy, serving for two years. Back home from the Navy, Roger Hughes enrolled in the University of Southern California (USC) and graduated four years later in the early 1960's.

Following graduation from USC, Roger Hughes wet to work at Hughes Markets, becoming manager of the store in Sherman Oaks in 1962.

Three years later he talked his father into granting him franchise ownership of the Sherman Oaks store (like father like son), which he operated that way for many years; in fact until his father died in 1982. When Joseph Hughes died, Hughes Markets was a multi-store grocery chain with about $400 million in annual sales. In 1982 Roger Hughes took over as president and CEO of Hughes Markets. A mere seven years later (by the end of the 1980's) the Southern California grocery chain, known for its focus on the basics, high level of customer service, and innovations like bringing back service fish and meat departments, had doubled in size - to 45 stores - and more than doubled in sales volume to nearly $900 million annually.

Roger Hughes inherited this legacy, and did little to alter it. Having spent more than 20 years learning the grocery business under his father's tutelage, Roger Hughes was imbued with his father's business perspective and, consequently, carried out his executive duties much like his father would have done. Although Roger Hughes stuck close to the course charted by his father and continued to direct and present Hughes Markets as a quiet, conservative enterprise, he was more growth-minded than his father.

The chain, which had become the largest family-owned supermarket chain in Southern California because of acquisitions some years prior of formerly family-owned Ralphs and Vons, continued to grow in the 1990's, although in the measured and controlled way which was a hallmark of Roger Hughes' approach to building the business. From 1992 to 1996 Hughes Markets opened six new stores (to total 58). And in 1993 the family-owned chain debuted a new office and warehouse complex in the Southern California city of Irwindale The new office complex/distribution center was comprised of three buildings: A 36,000 square-foot office building, a 137,000-square-foot facility for fresh produce, meat and deli, and a 443,000 square-foot distribution center for dry grocery, general merchandise, and liquor.

But in November of 1996 Roger Hughes decided to sell the nearly half-century old family supermarket business, which was doing about $1.3 billion in annual sales, to Quality Food Centers, Inc. (QFC), a then 64-store supermarket chain based in Seattle, Washington, for $360 million in cash.

The sale marked a milestone in the Southern California supermarket industry because Hughes Markets was the last remaining major, family-owned grocery chain in the region. According to some Hughes management insiders, although Hughes had received a verbal agreement with executives at QFC that they would not sell Hughes Markets for several years, QFC sold Hughes about a year later to Fred Meyer/Ralphs (they had been "shopping" the chain to potential buyers well before then). Soon thereafter, many of the Hughes management employees that Roger attempted to protect in the sale were displaced and looking for work, to the angst of its former owner.

A few years later in 1999 Roger Hughes and three former members of his executive team at the old Hughes Markets chain - Mark Oerum, David Wolff and Steve Strickler - founded HOWS Markets in Southern California.

The HOWS name is an acronym of the last names of the four founders/owners: Roger Hughes, Mark Oerum, Dave Wolff, and Steve Stricker. HOWS is an upscale supermarket format but embraces most of the fundamentals, like the focus on customer service, of the old Hughes Markets chain and culture. At one point, there were as many as five Hows Markets operating in Southern California, but the stagnant economy affected their ability to operate, and after Roger Hughes died in 2010, the remaining partners were able to continue to operate the Hows Market in Pasadena California as of late 2011.

Roger Hughes was a retail executive that left an indellible mark upon the Supermarket Industry in Southern California.

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Philantropic/Industry Support

Roger Hughes also was a spokesman for the industry in the Golden State. He was actively involved with both the California Grocers Association (CGA), including serving a term as CGA Board Chair, and the Western Association of Food Chains, which he was president of in 1995, for decades.

Among his contributions to both trade organizations included frequent, and substantial, donations to scholarship funds which help students who are sons and daughters of people who work in the California food and grocery retailing industry.

Roger Hughes is one of just a handful of California supermarket industry executives who have Legacy Scholarship's named after them by the California Grocers Association.

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Obituary of Roger Hughes

Roger K. Hughes

NORTHRIDGE, Calif. — Funeral services took place last week for Roger K. Hughes, one of the owners of HOWS Markets and son of the founder of Hughes Markets. Hughes, 76, died earlier this month following a long battle with cancer. Hughes joined Hughes Markets in 1973 and was later chairman and chief executive officer of what grew to become a 58-store operation before it was sold in 1996 to Quality Food Centers, Seattle. In 1999 Hughes and three former executives — Mark Oerum, David Wolff and Steve Strickler — founded HOWS Markets, which currently operates four stores. Hughes also served as president of the Western Association of Food Chains in 1995, and he and his wife have donated scholarships to the association for the past several years. He is survived by his wife, Katharine, four children, nine grandchildren and one great-grandchild.

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